The Strangest Creature on Earth

You're like a scorpion, my brother,
you live in cowardly darkness
    like a scorpion.
You're like a sparrow, my brother,
always in a sparrow's flutter.
You're like a clam, my brother,
closed like a clam, content,
And you're frightening, my brother,
    like the mouth of an extinct volcano.

Faces

I have seen a face with a thousand countenances,

and a face that was but a single countenance

as if held in a mould.

I have seen a face whose sheen I could look

through to the ugliness beneath, and

a face whose sheen I had to lift to see how

beautiful it was.

I love you

I kneel down: I look at the earth,
the grass,
insects,
little stems blooming with blues.
You are like the spring earth, my love,
I'm looking at you.
I lie on my back: I see the sky,
the branches of a tree,
storks on the wing,
a waking dream.

Caged Bird

A free bird leaps

 on the back of the wind   

 and floats downstream   

 till the current ends

 and dips his wing

 in the orange sun rays

 and dares to claim the sky.

 But a bird that stalks

 down his narrow cage

 can seldom see through

 his bars of rage

 his wings are clipped and   

 his feet are tied

 so he opens his throat to sing.

König David

Lächelnd scheidet der Despot,

denn er weiß, nach seinem Tod

wechselt Willkür nur die Hände,

und die Knechtschaft hat kein Ende.

Armes Volk! wie Pferd und Farrn

bleibt es angeschirrt am Karrn,

und der Nacken wird gebrochen,

der sich nicht bequemt den Jochen.

Και μένα

Και μένα,

μη μου μιλάς για χλωμά φεγγαροπερπατήματα,

μελιστάλακτα όνειρα,

φτερωτούς άγγελους,

εύκολες ευτυχίες,

αρρωστημένα συναισθήματα…

Βρές κάποιον άλλον.

Εγώ ξέρω…

Είμαι πικρός.

Αν το νομίζεις ότι πρέπει να μου μιλήσεις

Βγήκα νωρίς

Βγήκα νωρίς στους πράσινους κήπους,

πριν προλάβουν να ξυπνήσουν τα γιασεμιά κι οι μέλισσες.

Βγήκα νωρίς,

πριν γίνουν ατμός οι ασχημάτιστες δροσοσταλίδες.

Ναι, βγήκα νωρίς…